Recent digital technologies have revealed some alarming effects on social connections and mental health. The US Surgeon General has issued widely publicized recommendations on loneliness and on young people, both of which are full of evidence of the harms caused by social media and the internet in general. But can digital technologies also improve social connections?
While the harms of digital media for many are well documented, some people thrive on digital connections, especially marginalized groups who have a harder time finding each other in physical environments, the Surgeon General’s Youth Advisory points out on page 6:
Another at-risk population is older adults. The National Academy of Sciences reports that 43% of adults over age 60 feel lonely. Clinicians and payers will also be intrigued by research showing that this loneliness can make it harder for older adults to navigate the health care system. As we age, it is natural to lose social connections. Friends and family members may move or die, or we may no longer be able to drive or travel, or we may be forced to leave our homes and close friends and enter an institution.
Make social media more social
Sarah Shanti, a partner specializing in health care at the law firm Sheppard Mullin, said social media and technology platforms can be designed to be effective in building healthy communities and positive interactions.
When the conversation turns to depressing or difficult topics, the platform can encourage members to deal with those feelings more constructively – for example, by asking a young person to talk about a difficult time in their life and how they overcame it, or to discuss their plans for the future.
Gamification is a powerful tool for changing behavior, and conferences called Games for Health have been bringing together practitioners for several years.
Shanti and Dr. Wen Dombrowski, Chief Convergence Officer at CATALAIZE, point out that social networking platforms can connect people with common interests, such as music, art, wellness, social issues, etc. Some sites are general platforms that allow people with a range of interests to participate, while others are specifically designed for certain niches.
Shanti also sees technology encouraging people to find peers within their local communities, meeting at gyms, gardening clubs, etc. Religious institutions known for building strong communities can also be found online.
Shanti said entities with incentives to improve their use of technology to address isolation include payers and employers, especially those with remote workers.
Different ways to cope with loneliness
As Dor Skuler, CEO and co-founder of Intuition Robotics, points out, loneliness is different from social isolation: Loneliness is a subjective feeling that is often caused by social isolation, but can also stem from feelings of alienation.
So people who are different in some way — race, disability, sexual preference — often feel lonely even when others are around them. The people around a marginalized person may not only not offer emotional support, but may even be threatening. Furthermore, depressed people may feel alienated from other people and feel like they are a threat in the same way.
Approaches to social isolation therefore include the following interventions, all of which we will look at in this series:
Physically connect lonely individuals with others in their geographic community; Provide online connections for people who cannot meet others in person for health, logistical, or other reasons; Treat underlying psychological depression or feelings of alienation.
Loneliness is subjective, so how do clinicians and public health officials measure it? According to Sculler, the current standard is the UCLA Loneliness Scale. Other universities are working to develop methods that can more accurately measure the objective state of loneliness or social isolation. Surveys rely on patient-reported outcome measures (PROs) to indicate loneliness or isolation.
Future articles in this series will explore each of the three types of interventions listed here.
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